Tag Archives: TD lawsuit

At TD, A 45 Cent Short NSF Is $96 In Fees

Yesterday brought a tiny victory to consumers on something that’s mostly ended in the U.S. for some years. The Ontario Superior Court approved a settlement with TD Bank for not fully disclosing that an NSF for one item triggers two NSF charges.

The lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit, Tyler Dufault, was 45 cents short on an auto payment from his account. As a result, the item bounced (NSF). But creditors have the ability to re-try/re-process it a second time. Thus, the TD charged two NSF fees of $48 each. Bottom line: 45 cents short in his account triggered $96 in NSF charges.

The class-action lawsuit related to improper (or no) full disclosure to customers that two NSF fees can be triggered. Of course (surprise!) the TD did not admit to anything but settled the class-action suit for $15.9 million. That’s like you and me paying a nickel as TD had annual revenues of $75 billion last year! Lawsuits against all other major banks are ongoing.

If you are one of the 105,000 people caught in this by the TD between February 2, 2019 and November 27, 2023 the settlement will be $88. If it’s happened at one of the other banks, stay tuned for their likely settlements.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the U.S. the average cost of processing an NSF cheque is less than one-half of a penny ($0.005), since it’s entirely automated. Yes, this is one of the predatory charges of banks in general until the Federal Government steps in as they did in the U.S. No – getting an overdraft is a very bad idea with the staggering rates and fees.

Ironically, both the TD and BMO in the U.S. do not charge NSF fees to their southern customers. But here…well…if they can – they will. Will any of the banks change their policies? Not hard to guess that that’s a firm NO. They’ll add two lines to their five to 10 page account disclosure and carry on double charging. Sick, sad but true.

A Horrible Month For TD and Royal

 

It hasn’t been a good month for two of our banks. They couldn’t control the drop in their share prices after the vote in Britain to leave the European Union, but the other problems are purely of their making.

I wanted to share both last week, but since then, both have now become international news stories:

TD got their foothold in the U.S. during the financial meltdown. They purchased Harris Bank and another one called Commerce Bank. Commerce Bank was loved by their customers. But those same customers might not be loving TD right now. NBC did an investigative report into coin counter machines. TD was found to shortchange people by 15% on their coins.

What? A bank that cannot count? Not a good PR move! On the other hand, you’d think the ones in retail stores might be questionable…but that’s not the case: They were all found to be accurate. Clark Howard, on over 400 radio stations in the U.S. calls it a big rip-off alert. Then it got worse: They knew their machines were ripping people off and STILL rolled them out in Canada! That’s now a class action lawsuit, according to CBC Marketplace. But when they knew this, why isn’t it criminal fraud?

The second one involves the Royal. Scotia closed most of their retail banking in the Caribbean last year. Now the Royal announced new and increased service charges for their customers. Some of them up to $11.75 a month. In the seven countries where they operate, the average minimum wage is $4.23. There have now been international media reports of lineups ranging two to three hours this week as locals close their accounts. That’s great to see: People voting with their wallets and firing their bank! Love it!